I went to bed way too late last night, so I'm getting up later than I hoped, so let me cut to the chase everybody.

It's Week 17, the last NFL regular season week. The Patriots and the Giants had their last game last night, and the Pats won, and they went 16 - 0. Most every division has a winner and most every Wild Card spot has been taken. The few that remains are the 3rd, 4th, and 6th seeds in the AFC and the last and final 6th seed in the NFC. Today, is when it all gets decided.

he Chargers need a win over the Raiders to get into the 3rd seed, but if they lose, they drop to the 4th seed in the AFC if the Steelers beat the Ravens. This is important [to them, I add this because I don't think it means anything] because that means they don't have to play the Patriots until [if] they both make it to the Conference Championship game... after they knock off the Colts. I think this is a really stupid way to look at it - you have to go into the Playoffs feeling you can beat everyone, you can't hope that some other team will knock them off, because then guess what, now you're going to play the team that knocked off the Patriots. They know things more than you do, and you don't want to play them. The Titans and the Browns are playing for the 6th in the AFC, whoever wins is in, but the Browns are on the bad side of the deal, the Titans are playing the Colts, a team that is known to rest its players in the last week because they are always going to the Playoffs. So the only thing the Browns can do is wait, wait and hope the Titans choke Sunday night - which won't be a first, 'course.

Now to the Conference I pay more attention to, the NFC. The only thing left to figure out is the last spot, the 6th spot. It's been a very crazy last few weeks, racing for that spot, every team. We all know my team is the Saints, so I'll talk through their perspective. It's been a long, long season. They lose the NFC Championship game last year to the Bears, their first Championship game ever, after going 10 - 6 and grabbing the South's top spot as well as a second seed. They come into this season with four straight losses to open it up, lose their main-man Deuce in a prime time game. They then go on an unforeseen four game win-streak beating the Titans and the Jaguars. Then Reggie Bush's knee starts acting up, and so does the rest of the team. People are "dropping like flies" (says Drew Brees), first Deuce gets out, the Reggie, then Branch, then McKenzie, then Stecker, then Colston - dropping left and right, and most in the last game. They had their best chance to get into the Playoffs last week with a win against the Eagles, an Eagles team they've had great success against since this new Saints team was created. If they won and the Vikings lost, they'd be coming into this week with the 6th seed, and in charge of their Playoff destiny. But they lost, but so did the Vikings - so instead, the Redskins have the position the Saints could've had, and now all they have to do is beat a division rival to get in. That may sound difficult, but their division rival Cowboys grabbed the 1st seed when the Bears beat the Packers last week, so with an injured TO and a semi-injured Romo, they will probably play their second strings, almost guaranteeing a Redskins win. The Vikings though are still in it, are are tied with the Redskins in games, but the Redskins have the conference win tie-breaker... but the Saints have a better conference record better than all of them. They play the Broncos, who have a horrible run defense. So if you look at it, the Saints have a very, very slim chance of going into the Playoffs, because not only do they need those two guys to lose, they also need to beat the Bears, the team that kept them from going to the Super Bowl last year. And in Chicago, where the weather might be bad like last year. But my man Pierre Thomas will be the running back, and he grew up near Chicago... so maybe it might be a great game for him? But now you know what needs to happen, now let's hope it gets done; and there are a lot of Saints records to be broken - let's watch how many do, or don't. Either way, it's been a great, great season. ESPN just showed this montage of the NFL year... and I got teary eyed, haha; they're really good. So go get ready for the games! Time Warner is showing the Saints game... what a way to finish off the regular season. And then the Cowboys game, and then there's Celtics/Lakers tonight! FSN Prime Ticket is going to have a courtside telecast! Great, great sports day. So enjoy! And say good-bye to 2007, it's nearly over. Take care everyone, stay safe. see u.